A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Oghuma Johnson
Egwakhide, has been charged to court by the Independent Corrupt
Practices and Other Related Offences Commission for reportedly
collecting N1.6 million bribes from three contractors.
ICPC, in a four-count charge, filed before Justice Adebukola Banjoko,
of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Jabi, said
the member who represents Etsako East/West/Central Federal
Constituency, Edo State, in the National Assembly, allegedly collected
kickbacks from contractors handling school projects in the state.
The charge sheet revealed that Egwakhide, who had sponsored the
construction of one block of three classrooms at Fugar Mixed Secondary
School, Etsako Central Local Government Area, as part of his
constituency project in 2018, demanded for kickbacks of 10 percent
from the N16.5 million contract sum.
He was alleged to have then collected N1.6 million from Feola Ventures
Nigeria Ltd, the company handling the project as bribe after the award
of the contract by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.
The commission told the court that the lawmaker’s actions amounted to
receipt of gratification and abuse of office in violation of sections
10 and 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act,
2000 and punishable under the same act.
But Egwakhide pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to him. His
counsel, Samuel Sibiri (SAN), prayed the court to grant him bail on
self-recognizance. The prayer was not opposed by ICPC lawyer, Adesina
Raheem.
He however pleaded with the court to grant the accused bail in such
terms that would effectively secure his attendance in court.
The trial judge consequently admitted him to bail in the sum of N20
million with two sureties in like sum. The sureties must be resident
of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and should be gainfully employed,
the court said.
Further conditions of the bail demanded that the sureties must submit
two passport photographs with the court registrar as well as provide
evidence of tax clearance for the last three years. The accused was
later granted bail after fulfilling the bail conditions and the matter
was then adjourned to 17th November, 2020 for trial. Vanguard
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